Brad,

speaking of being in high places in a storm, not too far from my house is a
300 foot plus FM tower for a local radio station.  A friend of mine, and his
partner, used to hire out and do commercial and ham radio tower work.  This
station hired them to replace the collision lights at the top so Bill and
Joe climbed.  There was no elevator on this tower.  Bill is a big black guy
and over the years was well know for helping his fellow ham radio operators
out with big tall towers.  He even helped me put up a large antenna on my 65
foot tower.  His other hobbies is car racing.  Anyhow, Bill told me that he
and Joe were on top of the tower when a big electrical storm blew up.  That
can happen pretty quickly this close to the mountains.  Plus, when you are
over 300 feet above the ground, you aren't apt to hurriedly climb down.  So,
Bill said, they stayed up there working even when it started to rain.  He
said there were big lightning bolts flashing all around them and he had
never been so freaked out in his life.  Several years ago, I sold a large
ham antenna to Bill.  There was a misunderstanding about it and later,
through someone else, Bill heard I was questioning his work.  I did no such
thing but he took it that way.  He called on the phone, he lived in western
Colorado in those days, and we had quite the debate over the phone.  He was
super mad, too, but I tried to explain to him that I did not say or do what
he heard.  I don't think he believed me.  Several years later, after moving
into this house, Bill called me on the phone and said he had moved back to
Denver.  He was a big wig for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  He said he wanted
to come over to see me.  I was really nervous and figured he wanted to bring
up the misunderstanding again.  so Bill comes over and spent about two to
three hours sitting in my living room talking.  At first, we just visited
about ham radio but soon he said, I came over hear to tell you something.  I
was really worried now.  He said, I became a born again Christian not long
ago and the first person I thought to tell was you.  That blew me away.  He
told me how it all came to pass and the bond was there.  We came better
friends than ever before.  I mentioned he was black because of two funny
things that happen with Bill and my kids.  My oldest son was probably 8
years old when Bill came to the house to take down the big antenna he bought
from me.  I knew it was him because he knocked on the door in morse code but
my son, Trenton, ran to the window and looked down to the door.  We lived in
a split level house at that time.  Trenton said, Hey dad, there is some big
black guy at the front door.  I said it was Bill here to pick up my antenna.
Then, years later, after Bill was born again, he was on top of my 65 foot
tower with another guy.  We were getting ready to pull the new large antenna
up to them when Gretchen, she was a teenager then, walked outside and said,
Whose the big black guy on the tower?  I said, That's Bill Brown, and she
said, he sure is big.  Bill and my other friend on the top of my tower had
radios so we could talk to them when they needed things pulled up to them
like tape and wire and screws and cables and finally the antenna.  I could
clearly hear my own voice when I transmitted on my hand held radio because
they had their radios turned way up in order to hear without grabbing the
radio to hear.  I said into my radio, "My daughter wants to know who the big
black guy is up on the tower.  Of course, Bill thought it was funny.  It
sure is amazing how the Lord works in people's lives.

Phil.


Learning Jesus
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